18th century North Cork property offers a new ‘manor’ of country living for €2.4m

Seven-bed Ballygriggan House on 140 acres has modern touches

Ballygriggan House, Castletownroche

Castletownroche, North Cork
€2.4m
Size	770 sq m (8,200 sq ft)
Bedrooms	7
Bathrooms	7
BER	B2

Over the centuries, North Cork’s Ballygriggan House became bigger and better and in the past 25 years has been brought up to an impressive B2 BER standard too.

Whoever enjoyws it next,, will they buy it for the house, for the 140 acres of land it’s on, or for the local River Awbeg, angling, and lifestyle attractions?

Originally with more humble farmhouse roots to the 1700s, this rolling, rural-set property mix was expanded in the 1820s, and again after 2000, when the current owners came towards Castletownroche from a Georgian house in the UK.

They took their Irish buy in hand and doubled it again in size to now pack in a substantial 8,200 sq ft, with six of its seven bedrooms en suite, all finely dressed in period-home apparel.

They upped creature standards, too, for horses, with equestrian facilities plus farm buildings, and in the home for humans, added space, new heating, solar panels, and gained a much improved BER.

Ballygriggan House last featured in these pages a decade ago, when it was rated a C1, and had a €2.45m AMV set by its then-joint selling agents, both country homes specialists.

That price included North Lodge, also renovated by the couple a few years after they tackled and reoriented the main dwelling.

While the main house has stayed since in family hands, North Lodge appeared on the Price Register in 2019 at €190,000, with the only other Ballygriggan listing being South Lodge, at €197,500 in 2018.

Selling now is Michael O’Donovan, of Sherry FitzGerald O’Donovan’s Mallow office, and he quotes an AMV of €2.4m for pretty much the same mix as was sought back in 2016, (only minus North Lodge).

Mr O’Donovan says it can be bought in lots, if farmers just want the land (about 100 acres is top quality, with the balance in woodland and ‘inch’ summer grazing); others might like just portions of it, or want the house and a reduced acreage with enough land to match the stables and arena for enjoying with horses.

Mr O’Donovan describes the layout of the six-bay, offset front-facade period home as “a manageable floor area,” with formal reception rooms of elegant proportion, plasterwork ceilings, and good fireplaces.

There’s arched access to a large sun-trap patio ( bordered by a high stone wall with arched door,) plus a hardwood stairs, and comfortable en suite bedrooms, while the kitchen has an Aga to keep faith with the overall aura and feel.

Authenticity is evidenced in the ha-ha, or recessed ditch, to maintain unobstructed countryside views down towards the Awbeg river, a 30-mile long tributary to the Blackwater and known for years as a good trout and salmon river: the Awbeg was also extolled by English poet Edmond Spenser, who wrote about it as the Mullagh river.

Historic Annesgrove House and its heritage gardens are across the river, now under Office of Public Works care, since they were gifted to the State by the Annesley family in 2015, with gardens open to the public.

VERDICT: With family in Dublin and the UK, the owner’s keen for a sale and a date for best offers is looming by mid-to late June, says SFOD’s Mr O’Dononan.